Australian Cardinal George Pell, chairman of the international group of bishops advising the Vatican about the translation of the Roman Missal into English, is “optimistic” the new missal will be ready for parish use for Advent 2011.

EDWARD PENTIN

Cardinal George Pell has said he is
confident the new English translation of the Roman Missal will be ready for
publication within the year.

Speaking to the Register Feb. 1, the chairman of the Vox Clara
Committee, the international group of bishops advising the Vatican about the
translation of the Roman Missal into English, said he was “optimistic” it will
be available in parishes for Advent 2011, and added that he believed the
Vatican review process “will certainly be completed within the year” but could
not give a precise date.

The Vox Clara Committee, which met in Rome Jan. 26-29, has now handed
over the new translation of the complete Roman Missal, the book of prayers used
at Mass, to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. The
congregation is now reviewing the text before issuing a final recognitio (approval), which is expected in
the first half of this year.

However, the date of publication and when it will be available for use
in parishes remains unclear; it may not be ready for use until Advent 2012, at
the latest. A senior Vatican official told the Register Feb. 1 that although no
decision has yet been made, he believed publication in Advent 2011 as “probably
[the] most likely date, to coincide with the beginning of the liturgical year.”

Most English-speaking bishops’ conferences are preparing materials to
introduce and explain the new translation with the hope that people will begin
using it in parishes for Advent 2011.

In a statement released after
their meeting, Vox Clara Committee members said they had “reviewed various
reports on the steps being taken for editing, coordination of manuscripts and
reviews for internal consistency of the English-language translation” of the
Roman Missal.

Marist Father Anthony Ward, an official of the Congregation for Divine
Worship, said that because bishops’ conferences approved the Roman Missal in
sections over a period of years, a final review and minor edits were needed to
ensure consistency. For
instance, he said, the same Latin prayer may be used in two different Masses
and may have been translated slightly differently during the bishops’ approval
process.

The Vox Clara statement said committee members reviewed the last two
sections of the Roman Missal translation to be approved by bishops’ conferences
in English-speaking countries: the proper of saints, a collection of specific prayers
related to each saint in the universal liturgical calendar; and the common of
saints, general prayers for celebrating saints listed in the “Roman
Martyrology” but not in the universal calendar.

The statement added that Cardinal Antonio
Canizares Llovera, prefect of the congregation, met with the committee and
“expressed his hope that the coming confirmation of the Roman Missal would
prove to be of great pastoral advantage to the Church in the English-speaking
world.”

The statement continued: “Expressing their
enthusiasm for the extraordinary pastoral opportunity provided by the
publication of a translation characterized by high literary quality,
theological precision and pastoral utility, the members emphasized the
importance of providing pastors and people with the greatest possible support
in the effective pastoral reception of this new translation.”

Some have been critical of the translation
process, saying it was undertaken with inadequate consultation. Bishop Donald
Trautman of Erie, Pa., the former chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on
the Liturgy, has contended that the U.S. bishops’ conference did not have a
direct hand in the antiphons of the Missale Romanum.

His comments were echoed in an article for the
Jesuit America magazine. Father Michael Ryanof St.
James Cathedral in Seattlewrote in December that the new translation
was “at best trivial and at worst hopelessly out-of-touch” and that several new
texts are products of “flawed principles of translation.” Similar concerns were
echoed by a few Catholic clergy in Britain, according to The
Tablet magazine.

However, in a follow-up response to Father
Ryan’s article, Father Peter Stravinskas, publisher of Newman House Press,
wrote in America that Bishop Trautman had misunderstood Paragraph 36
of Sacrosanctum Concilium, which stipulates that episcopal conferences
are to approve translations, and not produce them, with subsequent approval by
the Holy See. Father Stravinskas also asked how the final texts could have
received “such overwhelming support” from the American bishops if they were so
bad, and noted that Father Ryan’s campaign to delay the process has provoked a
counterreaction among young Catholics who are eager to use the new missal.

Last fall, both the U.S. and the England and
Wales bishops’ conferences gave their unanimous approval to the new
translation. The International Commission on English in the Liturgy has been
leading the translation work since 2002.

“Is this translation perfect? Of course not. No
translation is,” Father Stravinskas wrote. “But we ought never make the best
the enemy of the good. It is a vast improvement over the uninspiring, banal and
all-too-often theologically problematic texts we have been using for nearly 40
years.”

Speaking to reporters in Rome Feb. 1, Archbishop
Vincent Nichols, president of the bishops’ conference of England and Wales,
said the “fruitfulness” of the new translation cannot be judged until it is
“spoken and prayed out loud.” “It is for prayerful proclamation in the
solemnity of the liturgy, and that is the only context for which we should
respond to it and enter into the spirit of the translation,” he said.

But he added: “We do appreciate that these texts
contain and express the richness of the Catholic liturgical tradition of prayer
in a way the texts we’ve been using so far failed to do, so we see a great deal
to be gained in the richness of liturgical life [through the new translation],
although we accept the path there is not going to be that easy.”

I support the call to start talking about the new Roman Missal NOW. To help the Catholic faithful understand the changes in the Roman Missal, I am excited to inform everyone of my book entitled: “The Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, Mass ... What’s In a Name?: The Names of the Eucharist in the 2002 GIRM”. It is available in Amazon and in the publisher’s site:http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=64873

Posted by Jeffrey Pinyan on Saturday, Feb, 27, 2010 11:33 AM (EST):

This is excellent news. Dioceses need to be educating their priests and deacons NOW, so that they can in turn educate their flocks. I wrote a book designed to help people (clergy and laity) understand the congregation’s prayers in the Mass, and I’m working on a second one about the priest’s prayers. See http://www.PrayingTheMass.com for details.

Posted by Daniel G. on Monday, Feb, 22, 2010 2:49 AM (EST):

This is but one step toward improving the overall liturgy and I am looking forward to it but it will be diminished greatly unless the horrendous folk music I am forced to listen to every Sunday at Mass is overhauled as well. Let us pray.

Join the Discussion

We encourage a lively and honest discussion of our content. We ask that charity guide your words.
By submitting this form, you are agreeing to our discussion guidelines.
Comments are published at our discretion. We won't publish comments that lack charity, are off topic, or are more than 400 words.
Thank you for keeping this forum thoughtful and respectful.